Rotary saw blades may be utilized in a variety of settings and applications in order to facilitate various cutting operations. For example, in forestry operations, sawing implements such as feller-bunchers may be utilized to harvest standing trees. In such implements, for example, one or more disc-shaped saw blades having peripheral teeth may be rotated around a generally vertical (or other) axis in order to fell selected tree trunks. A saw blade of such an implement (or other implements) may be partially enclosed within a saw blade housing, with a forward pocket of the housing configured to expose a portion of the toothed periphery of the disk in order to facilitate cutting of a generally horizontal kerf into selected trees. During operation, saw blades may be rotated with large angular velocities, in order to facilitate efficient cutting of the selected trees. As a result, significant kinetic energy may be transmitted to the wood chips produced by the cutting (as well as other debris). This transmitted energy may result in some of the chips being ejected away from the saw blade (e.g., from accumulation points within the saw's gullet regions—the spaces along the disk periphery between the various saw teeth) at relatively high velocities.
Chips ejected away from the saw blade (e.g., from the gullet regions) generally travel with a direction that is tangent to the local rotation of the saw blade. Particularly for chips ejected from regions of the saw blade near the downstream edge of the housing pocket (from the perspective of the direction of rotation of the saw blade), such a tangential path may be directed toward an entrance into the interior of the saw blade housing. As such, one potential issue for sawing operations is that the tangential flight path of ejected debris may result in debris (such as wood chips) entering the housing. This may act to clog the housing, as accumulating chips increase the frictional drag on the saw blade or other assembly parts, or may otherwise adversely affect the operation of the relevant saw blade and related equipment (e.g., through abrasive or impact damage to mechanisms and surfaces contained by the housing). To address this issue, certain housings may accordingly incorporate a deflector around the downstream wall of the pocket, such that some chips ejected from the saw blade may be redirected in a generally forward direction and thereby be prevented from entering the housing. Such a solution, however, may still permit other chips and debris to enter the saw blade housing. For example, chips carried within the saw gullets, particularly if resulting from a cut made near the saw blade's entry to the enclosed portion of the housing may be carried into the housing before centrifugal action may cause their ejection away from the blade. Further, it may be advantageous to keep the saw blade housing relatively narrow (e.g., to facilitate more selective cutting of particular trees within tightly packed growth areas), which may increase the proportion of chips and debris that are not caught by a pocket deflector and that, accordingly, may enter the enclosed portion of the housing. Therefore, it may be useful to provide a saw blade housing that better addresses handling of chips and debris, among other advantages.